World Bank Worried With New Structures In Disaster Areas

World Bank has expressed concern with quality of some of the structures that have been built in areas affected by floods as they have already collapsed such as the dyke at Nogwe in Mulanje.

The Bank’s Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist for Malawi, Francis Nkoka said this during a familiarization tour of Nogwe and Thuchila dykes along Thuchila River and the relocated Thuchila Health Centre built with support from World Bank.

Nkoka attributed the substandard infrastructure due to minimal participation on the part of communities and the district council.

Therefore he stressed the need for communities, traditional leaders and district councils to work together with contractors from the design phase until construction works are completed.

“World Bank has allocated 50 million dollars for rehabilitation and construction of various infrastructures which were damaged across the country and for livelihood activities to promote resilience,” Nkoka said

Vice President, Everton Chimulirenji has advised contractors to refrain from corrupt practices when building structures in areas affected by disasters because the tendency leads to substandard work.

Chimulirenji said dykes have proved to reduce impact of disasters along Thuchila River during the rainy season when the river overflows

“The newly built Thuchila Health Centre will ease some of the challenges communities were facing when accessing medical services following the 2015 floods that affected the old health centre in the area,” said Chimulirenji

He expressed gratitude to World Bank for the timely support rendered to government during the disaster response and recovery phase, saying it is responsible for major infrastructural developments in the country.

TA Juma thanked government and its partners for the support given to his subjects following the recent March 2019 and 2015 disasters.